Covenanter Flags

Hunterian Museum flag (left) nd Baird Institute flag (right)

Baird Institute Flag

For many years now the Covenanter flag (above right) has rested, if not flown, in the Baird Institute in the town of Cumnock in the parish of Old Cumnock. Regarding the history of this flag much is owed to the Reverend John Warwick, one time minister of the Free Church, Old Cumnock and his invaluable work ‘The History of Old Cumnock”, published in 1899. In his writings he identified that an ‘almost similar‘ flag existed.

“Another Flag almost similar was found at the same time by Dr Kirkland. He presented it to the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, where it still hangs on the wall”

Hunterian Museum Flag

In December 2007 after contacting the Hunterian Museum I was invited to visit their archives, where the flag was now kept in safe storage, with the expectation of viewing a duplicate of the ‘Baird’ flag. Instead to my delight I witnessed the fragment of a saltire with the word ‘CVMNOK’ at its centre.